[행복연구센터](2025)The Gender Gap in the Care Economy Is Larger in Highly Developed Countries: Sociocultural Explanations for Paradoxical Findings

2026-01-13

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*연구과제명: The Gender Gap in the Care Economy Is Larger in Highly Developed Countries: Sociocultural Explanations for Paradoxical Findings 

-연구 기관: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam; Department of Psychology, University of Inland Norway; Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Department of Psychology, Leuphana University; Institute of Psychology, Thomas More University; Department of Applied Psychology, UiT; The Arctic University of Norway; Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto; Department of Psychology, Singapore Management University; Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu; Department of Social, Health and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University; Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences; Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University; Department of Psychology, University of Arizona; Department of Psychology, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta; Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University (연구팀)
-저자: Katharina Block, Maria I. T. Olsson, Sanne van Grootel, Carolin Schuster, Loes Meeussen, Colette Van Laar, Sarah Martiny, Alyssa Croft, Molly Shuyi Sun, Sheila Wee, Mare Ainsaar, Lianne Aarntzen, Magdalena Adamus, Joel Anderson, Ciara Atkinson, Mohamad Avicenna, Przemysław Bąbel, Markus Barth, Tessa M. Benson-Greenwald, Edona Maloku, Jacques Berent, Hilary B. Bergsieker, Monica Biernat, Andreea G. Bîrneanu, Blerta Bodinaku, Janine Bosak, Jennifer Bosson, Marija Branković, Julius Burkauskas, Vladimíra Čavojová, Sapna Cheryan, Eunsoo Choi, Incheol Choi, Carlos C. Contreras-Ibáñez, Andrew Coogan, Ivan Danyliuk, Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Nilanjana Dasgupta, Soledad de Lemus, Thierry Devos, Marwan Diab, Amanda B. Diekman, Maria Efremova, Léïla Eisner, Anja Eller, Rasa Erentaitė, Denisa Fedáková, Renata Franc, Leire Gartzia, Alin Gavreliuc, Dana Gavreliuc, Julija Gecaite-Stonciene, Adriana L. Germano, Ilaria Giovannelli, Renzo Gismondi Diaz, Lyudmila Gitikhmayeva, Abiy Menkir Gizaw, Biljana Gjoneska, Omar Martínez González, Roberto González, Isaac David Grijalva, Derya Güngör, Marie Gustafsson Sendén, William Hall, Charles Harb, Bushra Hassan, Tabea Hässler, Diala R. Hawi, Levke Henningsen, Annedore Hoppe, Keiko Ishii, Ivana Jakšić, Alba Jasini, Jurgita Jurkevičienė, Kaltrina Kelmendi, Teri A. Kirby, Yoko Kitakaji, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, Inna Kozytska, Clara Kulich, Eva Kundtová-Klocová, Filiz Kunuroglu, Christina Lapytskaia Aidy, Albert Lee, Anna Eneroth, Wilson López-López, Liany Luzvinda, Fridanna Maricchiolo, Delphine Martinot, Rita Anne McNamara, Alyson Meister, Tizita Lemma Melka, Narseta Mickuviene, María Isabel Miranda-Orrego, Thadeus Mkamwa, James Morandini, Thomas Morton, David Mrisho, Jana Nikitin, Sabine Otten, Maria Giuseppina Pacilli, Elizabeth Page-Gould, Ana Perandrés-Gómez, Jon Pizarro, Nada Pop-Jordanova, Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna, Samir Qouta, TamilSelvan Ramis, Nitya Rani, Sandrine Redersdorff, Isabelle Régner, Emma A. Renström, Adrian Rivera-Rodriguez, Tania E. Rocha-Sánchez, Tatiana Ryabichenko, Rim Saab, Kiriko Sakata, Adil Samekin, Tracy Sánchez-Pachecho, Carolin Scheifele, Marion K. Schulmeyer, Sabine Sczesny, David Sirlopú, Vanessa Smith-Castro, Kadri Soo, Federica Spaccatini, Jennifer R. Steele, Melanie C. Steffens, Ines Sucic, Joseph Vandello, Laura Maria Velásquez-Díaz, Melissa Vink, Eva Vives, Turuwark Zalalam Warkineh, Iris Žeželj, Xiaoxiao Zhang, Xian Zhao, and Toni Schmader 

Despite the growing demand for care economy employees (e.g., nurses, teachers, and social workers), men remain underrepresented in these careers. While economically developed countries support more equal rights for women and men, their labor markets are highly gender segregated (Charles, 1992, 2003). We conducted a focused investigation of this paradoxical pattern in the care economy, testing whether gender gaps in care economy career interest are larger in more economically developed countries and, if so, what psychological and cultural factors underlie these patterns. We examined these questions with labor data from 70 countries (Study 1) andapreregistered study of career interests among 19,240 university students from 49 countries (Study 2). Although more economically developed countries tend to promote greater gender equality, our results reveal that the gender gap in care economy representation (Study 1) and interest (Study 2) is especially large in such countries. We did not observe parallel patterns for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics representation or interest. Results from Study 2 supported an integrated theoretical account of this development paradox in care economy interest: Cross-national variation in the gender gap in care economy interest was predicted by country-level variation in economic development and individualism/collectivism but not by self-expression values or country-level gender equality, countering prior (contro versial) claims of a gender equality paradox. Furthermore, larger gender gaps in communal values (e.g., men’s lower valuing of helping and caring for others) were a proximal predictor of larger gender gaps in care economy interest in highly economically developed countries.